BEWARE: Some brands of pet food could KILL your cat or kitten -

I came across this Article in the Sydney Morning Herald in November 2008. My vet had discussed this product to me a couple of weeks before hand and this is certainly NOT the ONLY brand of Pet food that has caused problems.

Cat deaths linked to pet food

The two Oddy family cats that were paralysed and subsequently euthanised.

UNEXPLAINED chronic illness and death among Sydney cats has been linked to a gourmet imported pet food withdrawn from stores over the past three weeks.

A cat neurologist, Georgina Child, has put down five cats over the past week and treated or consulted with other vets about more than a dozen others suffering from paralysis.

Dr Child, who is based at the University of Sydney's veterinary hospital and the Small Animal Specialist Hospital in North Ryde, said the only factor that linked all the cats was a specialist pet food called Orijen, which is imported through a Canadian company, Champion Petfoods.

"There is a highly suspicious link because this is an uncommon expensive food in this country at the moment, and not sold in supermarkets," Dr Child said. "But all tests that have been done so far haven't given us an answer."

First symptoms included wobbliness or weakness in the animal's hind legs, which could then progress to the front limbs. The condition did not appear to be infectious, Dr Child said, nor typical of a nutritional deficiency.

"Most worrying is that the cats showed no signs [of illness] while on the food," she said. "It seems to be happening weeks or even months later."

The marketing manager of Champion Petfoods, Peter Muhlenfeld, confirmed yesterday the cat deaths had been traced back to Orijen's dry cat food, and the problem appeared to be restricted to Australia.

He said samples sent back by the Australian distributor had a "strange odour". The company is investigating whether irradiation upon entry into Australia was the source of the contamination.

The Oddy family of Dundas has lost two cats in the past week. "They were the children's pets; it's awful," Sarah Oddy said.

Contamination can occur from Agric products being produced followed by a vitamin/mineral run which is supplied to the pet food industry and the machinery not being sanitised/cleaned effectively beetween productions.

If you are interested in this topic and want further reading please let me know and I will email you a number of relevant articles relating to OTHER BRANDS of pet foods including some VET RECOMMENDED ranges.

The deaths of two cats from what is believed to be the first documented case of toxic black mold poisoning in pets point to a new health concern for pet owners, according to a veterinarian who co-authors a report in the Sept. 1, 2007, issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Douglas Mader, a veterinary specialist in Marathon, Fla., was performing routine dental procedures on two cats when he noticed frothy blood within endotracheal tubes used to supply anesthesia to the animals. The veterinarian immediately stopped the procedures, but both animals died — one the following day, the other about two weeks later.

“The circumstances of these cases are just not heard of,” Mader said. “Anesthesia doesn’t cause pulmonary hemorrhage [bleeding from the lungs.]” These were healthy, indoor cats. Examinations conducted prior to the dental cleanings showed no indications of illness.

Blood collected prior to the cats’ death was tested and demonstrated the presence of the toxin produced by Stachybotrys chartarum, also known as “toxic black mold.” Exposure to the mold can cause respiratory-related health problems, pulmonary hemorrhage and death in people. It had not previously been associated with disease in pets, Mader said.